Our business casual readers often say that they wish they could wear more fashionable clothing combinations to work. They feel that fun fashion trends are often inappropriate or too casual to wear in their professional and often conservative work settings. 

Well, I think that the addition of the right leather or pleather jacket is a great way to inject a bit of variety and fashionability into a corporate look. If you need to maintain a professional appearance, don’t choose anything too moto-esque, bomber-ish, distressed, heavy or overly embellished with zippers. Stick to LIGHTWEIGHT leather jacket styles with clean lines that can be worn indoors in place of a blazer or cardigan. Of course, if you work in a creative business casual environment, you can choose a more daring leather jacket style. 

Over the last few seasons, 95% of my business casual and business formal clientele wear the right leather or pleather jackets in their professional work settings. They match them up with anything from dressy trousers and pencil skirts, to cigarette pants, slouchy trousers styles and sheath dresses. They keep the tops and footwear dressy. 

My business casual clients run the gamut and some are required to look more formal than others. Some wear leather jackets on days when they don’t need to wear suits or see clients. Others wear leather jackets when they see less conservative clients. Others leave the look for Casual Friday when they still aren’t allowed to wear denim, but suits are not required. 

I vote yay. As long as you keep the leather jacket refined, lightweight, dressy, sophisticated and crisp, you can wear a leather jacket in place of a blazer or cardigan for corporate business casual settings. Remember that you can also take off your leather jacket during the day if you feel restricted or too warm. What’s your verdict?

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